Dark Knights: Restoration
by Krac
Summary: Giles returns to Sunnydale...Willow and Buffy fight...Des gives the remaining Scoobies a chance to beat her.


From: Krac  
  
Title: Dark Knights: Restoration  
  
Series/Sequel: Fifth in the Dark Knights world. Follows 'Damnation'.  
  
Author: Krac  
  
E-mail: krac_babee@lycos.com  
  
Rating: R  
  
Summary: Giles returns…Willow vents…And Des gives the remaining Scoobies a chance to beat her.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the BTVS Characters, Joss Whedon, The  
  
WB and Mutant Enemy own them, etc, etc. I only own the story and any  
  
original characters I create along the way.  
  
Distribution: Ask me first.  
  
Feedback: Does Riley lurve cows? Hell yes!  
  
Spoilers: None I've ignored this season, Buffy gives me the heebie  
  
jeebies. I'd go so far to say I despise her so when she appears it  
  
won't be pretty. But if you'd ever read any of my other fic you'd know that by now.  
  
Author's Note: Tee hee, for years I've been looking for a place to vent my hatred of Buffy and now I've found it and I feel-righteous. I control her strings! She dances when I say dance! Pouts when I say pout! MUHAHAHAHAHA I am an evil genius.  
  
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4 Dark Knights: Restoration  
  
Nervously Rupert Giles polished his glasses; the action betrayed to all who knew him just how anxious he was about returning to Sunnydale. Intentionally vague on the phone Buffy had shed no light on what could have happened that she now required his expertise. Part of him felt good at being needed-he had missed that. But the larger part of him had been enjoying the freedom a normal life could bring.  
  
Moving quickly through customs he craned his neck searching for his former charges; Buffy had said she and Willow would meet him when his plane arrived. A flash of red hair caught his eye and the two girls bore down on him. Giles offered a wan smile through his jet lag, "Buffy, Willow. Now will you tell me what is going on here?"  
  
The tiredness in their eyes was clearly visible; Buffy in particular was carrying a heavy set of luggage under her normally bright orbs and a cast on her right arm. Willow cleared her throat, "Xander's been turned."  
  
Giles felt as if he had been punched in the gut-Xander a vampire? Not the irrepressible, bright young man? "Are you sure?"  
  
"Once he turned my sister, took Angel's soul and crucified Spike it was pretty obvious." Buffy snapped out sharply, "He's working with some demon that doesn't even scan 'evil' on my spider senses-she just doesn't scan as anything."  
  
Lifting a hand Giles tried to absorb the information thrust upon him, "Wait, he turned Dawn? Angel has lost his soul? How long has Xander been a vampire?"  
  
"About a week." Willow offered.  
  
It hit Giles, the very thing he had feared had occurred. "Oh no."  
  
"Oh yes," Buffy picked up his bags in her good hand and ushered him to the doors, "And he's been very busy. I've never seen a newbie wreak havoc like this. We have to give all of them their souls back."  
  
Giles shook his head, "No you wouldn't have seen anything like this-I had hoped we would never have to…I should have known it could happen…it was foolish to think he was safe…"  
  
Whirling on her former watcher Buffy narrowed her eyes, "What are you babbling about Giles? What could have happened? How could you have known Xander would be a super vamp?"  
  
Sighing Giles was reminded of why he had enjoyed his time away so much- Buffy's exasperating need to have everything spelt out like a children's picture book. "Do you not remember the Hyena spirit that possessed Xander?" the girls nodded of course they remembered. "Since that event Xander found his senses slightly elevated-he asked me not to say anything but there was always a residue of the Hyena's power in him. If he's been turned then that extra power…it could explain his advancement as a vampire."  
  
Willow paled understanding the consequences of this new information, "It's also why his kills are so vicious…"  
  
"What about them Willow?" Giles asked, "They differ from normal vampiric activity?"  
  
The witch swallowed after everything she had seen on the Hellmouth the acts her former friend had accomplished as a vampire still made her green. "They found the night clerk of the Night Owl ripped to pieces…she was a few years behind us in high school-Sara Isles…they found her head in the milk cooler, her fingers on the hot dog machine…instead of hot dogs." she gulped in air, "And they're still mopping up the rest of her from the ceiling."  
  
Indeed the graphic descriptions of the young girl's demise paled Giles. It was hard to think that Xander could have done such a thing-even if he was an undead creature of evil. As they neared Buffy's SUV a strangled cry erupted from the slayer, "You knew?"  
  
"It was a possibility," Giles admitted, "Neither Xander of I thought it would come to this."  
  
Anger lit her eyes, "But you knew and didn't bother telling me Giles! How could you be so selfish? Didn't I as slayer have a right to know that if my friend were turned he'd become a super vamp? How dare you keep that information to yourself!"  
  
Turning Giles couldn't believe his ears-was Buffy accusing him of selfishness? The words stuck in his throat. "Talk about the pot calling the kettle black." Willow snorted coming to Giles' rescue; thoroughly sick of the slayer's theatrics, "Gee, Buffy were you ever going to tell us that you were sleeping with Spike? Why should Giles have said anything? It wasn't his place to tell you it was Xander's. And if you had done a better job protecting him this would never have happened!"  
  
"You're accusing me of being selfish? You ripped me from Heaven!" Buffy snarled enraged that her friend would not see the correct point of view- hers. "After everything I sacrificed for you-for the world? I lost my childhood, my innocence, my mother, and the only man I'll ever love! I died for you and everyone else twice!"  
  
"How could I forget? You remind me all the time." Willow shot back glad she was finally getting all of this off her chest; Giles stepped back and allowed the witch to vent, "Having a special destiny doesn't give you the right to be so self-involved that things don't matter unless they affect you. Now I'll admit I haven't been there for Xander like I should have-but Jesus Buffy did you even notice he or Dawn were missing until they showed up at the Bronze?"  
  
Clamping her mouth shut Buffy spun away and opened the driver's side door, hopping behind the wheel and ignoring Willow. Silently, Giles threw his small suitcase into the back seat then offered the back to Willow who was still glaring at Buffy. Once she was seated Giles climbed into the passenger seat and buckled up-it was going to be a bumpy ride.  
  
*********  
  
Lounging peacefully, Alex stroked Dawn's leg lovingly basking in his contentment. They had been keeping Buffy so busy that she could barely make inroads in killing the children he, Dawn and even Angel were siring. Of course, Des was quite sure that only those without special promise acted as cannon fodder.  
  
As if his thoughts brought her to him Des pulled away from her shadows. Smiling up at her, Alex felt his human countenance slip away in the face of the hunger she brought out in him. "I missed you."  
  
Her eyes flicked over Dawn's nearly naked body lying across his torso, and then moved to the two other young girls entwined beside him. A small sardonic smile lifted her lips, "You've kept yourself busy though."  
  
"I'm irresistible." He smiled lustfully and rose gently from his bed of black satin sheets careful not to wake his bedfellows for the moment, "It's time then?"  
  
A look of intense pleasure crept onto Des' placid features and she nodded her ascent as he moved closer and wrapped his arms around her waist. Alex bowed his head and placed a gently savage kiss on the demon's lips.  
  
***********  
  
"They could be anywhere, Xander knew Buffy's patrol patterns better than anyone." Willow paced thinking aloud.  
  
Giles sighed again; a temporary truce had been called so that they could focus on the bigger picture. What were Xander and Angel planning next-and better still what kind of demon was this 'Des'?  
  
Ever the mistress of the obvious fact, Buffy piped up from her perch near Spike's baby monitor-in case he should call out for her, "Well they still have to hide somewhere during the day. If we have to we can find them then and kill them, but if you can give them their souls back then we won't have to."  
  
"One problem with that plan," Willow returned, every minute she and Buffy spent together was eroding their friendship further, "I've used every contact I have and no one knows of any more Orbs of Thessila. It's impossible to restore a soul without one."  
  
"You mean one like this?" A soft voice asked from the doorway.  
  
Giles turned to see a plain, even mousy looking young woman holding an Orb in her tiny hands. Willow tensed while Buffy spit, "Des."  
  
"Your welcomes get warmer every time we meet Muffy." The demon smiled brightly then examined Buffy closely, "You look like you've been having problems sleeping. I take it you've been thinking about our last conversation."  
  
"What do you want?" Giles found his voice to ask.  
  
The unremarkable eyes fixed on him and the former watcher could have sworn he saw a flash of green, "Ah, the servant of Eygon! The gang's all here. I have a proposition for you, in my hands I hold the last Orb of Thessila. On the porch are three vampires who were once your friends. I will give you a sporting chance to thwart my plans, if you agree then you'll have ten seconds to decide who will get their soul returned to them."  
  
"Why give us this chance?" Willow asked shocked that a demon would do such a thing.  
  
The small shoulders shrugged, "To be honest this has all been too easy. Think of it as a handicap-if I can over some it and still carry out my plan then bully for me. And it can never be said I didn't give you a chance to beat me. Just be careful-the first name spoken will be your answer."  
  
Without further thought Buffy spoke, "Done."  
  
Willow and Giles glanced at her and hoped she would make the right decision- Xander as a vampire was a foe that could possibly beat Buffy even without the demon's intervention. Des' face lit with triumph, "Make your choice Puffy, who do you love enough to return their soul to them? Who can you not bear thinking of as a vile evil creature? Who could you not stake when push comes to shove…"  
  
Buffy's eyes were drawn to the picture window in front of her where her sister was draining the blood from the neighbor's poodle-Andy, "Dawn…" Buffy blurted out before she could stop herself.  
  
"Done." Des' smile became beatific as she disappeared.  
  
***********  
  
White-hot pain flashed through her mind and threatened to tear her apart. The darkness was forcibly ripped from her eyes and heart and she fell screaming as memories of the last few days rushed forth in full Technicolored reality. Images of the immense evil she had done flowed upon her like the rich crimson waves that had sustained her. Full throated she howled her terror at the realization of what she had become. Her soul had returned, her sanity fled and Dawn screamed at the uncaring stars. 


End file.
